WWII history and tactics

[Randy Daytona]

Caught this on the drive home tonight - some alternative history. At Samar St, the Japanese Center Force meets not Taffy 3 but the old battleships of 7th Fleet. The Yamato was built to shred the US “standard” class of battleships with its 3200 lb, 18.1” shells - but some standards are more standard than others. While the Mississippi, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and California mounted older 14” rifles with 1500 lb shells, the West Virginia and Maryland are mounting 16” rifles throwing 2200 lb shells with accurate radar ranging. Throw in 25+ Fletchers and 100’s of Long Lances, it would have been quite the melee.

Another “What If ?” from Drachinifel. Always interesting.

 

[Renegade One]

What if Napoleon had a B-52?

 

[AllAmerican75]

What if Napoleon had a B-52?

Moscow and London would have been smoldering heaps of rubble and glorious France would be the reigning super power of Continental Europe.

 

[jmcquate]

Moscow and London would have been smoldering heaps of rubble and glorious France would be the reigning super power of Continental Europe.

Meh...................Marshall Ney would have fucked it up.

 

[Randy Daytona]

On Wednesday, Drachinifel had his first livestream of the year: 5 hours of naval history and alternate history Q & A. Some great what ifs and what would you do including: you have command of the IJN at Leyte Gulf - how do you attack the American fleet?

Note: there were some audio / feedback problems at the beginning but were sorted out after a few minutes.

 

[Griz882]

you have command of the IJN at Leyte Gulf - how do you attack the American fleet?

Keep the carrier feint to draw Halsey off, but mass my fleets (Kurita and Shima) to pass through the San Bernardino Strait and strike the landing force.

(The correct answer is: Don’t attack Pearl Harbor!).

 

[Randy Daytona]

Keep the carrier feint to draw Halsey off, but mass my fleets (Kurita and Shima) to pass through the San Bernardino Strait and strike the landing force.

(The correct answer is: Don’t attack Pearl Harbor!).

Agree on using the carriers as a feint as they had almost no aircraft; however 2 of those ships (Ise and Hyuga) were battleship/ carrier hybrids.

Put every small / medium AA guns you can on the hybrids (basically turn them into huge Atlantas) and attach them to the Center Force to help Yamato and Musashi punch through.

For the Southern Force, have the dreaded IJN Shimakaze quietly slip in among Fuso and Yamashiro - then burst out with that 40 knot speed and launch 15 Long Lances (the latest models had 1700 lb warheads compared to US torpedoes at 700 lbs). 5 torpedoes at each of 3 battleships - 2 hits of those monstrous Type 93’s has a very good chance of sinking a Standard.

Anyway, back to March Madness and baseball’s opening day next week - it’s a great time of year.